Project description
Lipid diversity arising from prebiotic chemistries
How organic compounds formed and self-organised leading to life on Earth or elsewhere is the subject of prebiotic chemistry and essential to evolution. Competing hypotheses exist. When it comes to the lipid-rich cell membranes required for compartmentalisation, it is generally believed that lipid diversity required enzymatic processes. The ERC-funded LipDive project aims to use prebiotic chemistries to give rise to compositionally diverse membranes and show how they support the behaviours necessary for nucleic acid replication and membrane division, ultimately leading to a primitive cell cycle. With its demonstration of the emergence, assembly and evolution of cell membranes via prebiotic chemistry, the project will finally bridge these with early biology.
Objective
The origin of cell membranes is a major unresolved issue in evolution. Evolutionary biology points to the existence of primitive cells with compositionally diverse membranes that could actively participate in genetic and metabolic processes. However, the assumption that such lipid diversity is dependent upon enzymatic chemistry has generated models comprising compositionally minimal membranes (binary or ternary mixtures of short-chain fatty or phosphatidic acids) that passively host genetic or metabolic processes. LipDive seeks to reconcile biology and chemistry by challenging the critical limiting assumption that lipid diversity cannot be achieved through non-enzymatic, prebiotic chemistries.
LipDive will identify prebiotic chemistries that could have given rise to compositionally diverse membranes and show how these support characteristic behaviours necessary for nucleic acid replication and membrane division, the hallmarks of a cell cycle. To achieve this goal, I will harness diversity-oriented prebiotic synthesis to non-enzymatically transform primitive pluripotent lipids into libraries of diverse lipids (WP1). These lipids will be used to build compositionally diverse membranes (WP2) capable of interacting with membrane-editing protoenzymes and ribozymes (WP3). Coupling membrane division and nucleic acid replication will ultimately lead to a primitive cell cycle.
LipDive will advance the state-of-the-art in the origins-of-life field by probing the emergence, assembly and evolution of cell membranes, and finally connecting prebiotic chemistry and early biology. LipDive will lead to i) a fundamental understanding of the origins of lipid diversity, including the features now associated with bacterial and archaeal lipids; ii) new strategies based on compositionally diverse membranes to probe, sense or replicate cellular behaviours; and iii) a deep-rooted understanding of the emergence and evolution of cellular processes at the molecular level.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2024-STG
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CB2 1TN CAMBRIDGE
United Kingdom
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